When I roll against guys who have more skill then me it seems like I have the advantage at the start. I even seem to be winning for a while. But then the tables turn and everything goes down hill. Soon after the down turn I’m tapping. At class last night I got to be on the other side of the equation. I was rolling with one of our white belts, who might be up for his blue belt soon. It didn’t start out so hot for me and I was mounted. I remained calm and kept working my escapes and things changed. He managed to keep the upper hand for what seemed like a long time. I kept working my escapes and transitions. In time I gained side control and then it went all down hill for him. I noticed he was exhausted. I realized I had expended less energy and had waited him out. As he tired he retired, you might say. With more energy and the upper hand I moved from cross body or side control to mount. I latched on to his legs with "grape vines" and based out to ride out what I thought would be a strong attempt at escape. It didn’t come. I quickly moved up and took position under his arm pits and began my attack. It didn’t take long before I got a choke in and he tapped. I felt like a fortress that had ridden out the siege. I got a good insight into how my technique has evolved. If my fortress or technique had been weak his relentless assault would have broken through. I didn’t go for the submission right off. I waited for the opening and then took it, while all the while saving up for it. I wish I had it all on video. I don’t think I’ve gleamed half of what I can from it. I’ll be pondering it for a good while.

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on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 4:13 pm and is filed under Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
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7 Responses to “Wait For It! Wait For It! Choke and the Tap!”

It’s quite nice to have those ‘wow I am getting better, I think’ moments.
I get asked questions by white belts on how they can improve and although the simple answer is to train train train, there is often a lot of subtle, non-physical things that you just sort of develop (some people get it faster than others) and are very hard to explain.
What you just explained is one of those things that mark out a good experienced player from a novice.